Speaking at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, yesterday, Hillary Clinton unabashedly declared: “Everyone who violates the law anywhere should be held accountable.”
Clinton, of course, was not referring to herself. She was referring to the Panama Papers scandal, an awkward issue for her because as secretary of State she strongly supported the Panama free trade agreement in 2011, even though the State Department knew that Panama could become even more of a tax haven that it already was.
At the time, Clinton’s current rival for Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, was waving red flags that the deal would lead to the exact kind of scandal that was exposed by the Panama Papers.
As Congress was debating the deal, Sanders said on the Senate floor: “Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade US taxes by stashing their cash in offshore tax havens. And the Panama free trade agreement would make this bad situation much worse.”
Now, after aggressively pushing for the deal, she’s feigning shock and outrage over the fact that much of the scandalous behavior that has been uncovered “is actually legal.”
“Some of you may have just heard about these disclosures about outrageous tax havens and loopholes, that super rich people across the world are exploiting in Panama and elsewhere. Now, some of this behavior is clearly against the law, and everyone who violates the law anywhere should be held accountable.” She shamelessly added that “it’s also scandalous how much is actually legal.”
Clinton, as everyone knows, is currently being investigated by the FBI for matters related to her use of a private email server while secretary of State. Former Justice Department official Kenneth P. Bergquist has identified eight laws that she may have broken.
1.) 18 U.S. Code § 793 – Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
18 U.S. Code § 798 – Disclosure of classified information
2.) U.S. Code § 1924 – Unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material
3.) 18 U.S. Code § 2071(b) — Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally
4.) 18 U.S. Code § 641 – Public money, property or records
5.) 18 U.S. Code § 1505 – Obstruction of proceedings before departments, agencies, and committees
6.) 18 U.S. Code § 1519 — Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations
7.) 18 U.S. Code § 1031 — Fraud against the United States
18 U.S. Code § 1343 – Fraud by wire, radio or television
18 U.S. Code § 1346 — Definition of “scheme or artifice to defraud”
18 U.S. Code § 371 – Conspiracy to defraud the United States
8.) 18 U.S. Code § 371 – Conspiracy to commit a federal offense
Hillary is right. If she is found to have violated any of those laws, she “should be held accountable.”
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